JOHN Williams, as divisional veterinary manager for the Ministry of Agriculture in Yorkshire, is in charge of efforts to prevent foot and mouth spreading to half a million cattle, 2.5m sheep and 1m pigs across the broad acres of North, West and South Yorkshire.

John believes it is far too early to predict whether there will be any more cases in Yorkshire. However, his team of ten vets - backed up by reinforcements drafted in to deal with the crisis - seven technicians and 38 administrative staff is doing its best to prevent any more cases.

Their working lives have been transformed from a "peacetime" routine - involving animal welfare, testing cattle for TB and brucellosis, passing animals as fit for export and so on - to one of running a disease control centre. They spend many hours tracing where suspect animals have come from and where they have gone to in a bid to keep track of the disease.

It's an exhausting and stressful task, with all leave cancelled, and many staff working late into the evening and over the weekends. The staff are constantly dealing with farmers and other members of the public who are upset, or irate, or both.

As I spoke to John at his office, on the outskirts of Leeds, a call came through from a businessman angry because the closure of a footpath had also blocked off access to his business premises. John explained that such closures were the responsibility of the man's local authority, carried out under powers granted by the Government, and he was unable to intervene.

But many of the calls come from farmers who have spotted worrying signs of ill-health in their animals.

The first task for his veterinary officers is to discuss the symptoms with the farmer. In some cases, foot and mouth can be ruled out at this stage. In other cases, vets will go out to the farm to inspect the animals.

If they suspect there is a case, the farm will be placed under strict restrictions and samples taken away for testing. If cases are confirmed, his staff are then responsible for ensuring that all livestock are destroyed, that huge "funeral pyres" are organised to burn their carcasses, and that premises are cleaned and disinfected afterwards.

But, to the "vast relief" of farmers, many animals are found to have some other disease with similar symptoms to foot and mouth. "In one case in North Yorkshire, it turned out that three or four pigs on a farm with thousands of animals had septic arthritis.

"In another, some sheep with worrying symptoms had kidney disease."

John says that in the current atmosphere, farmers have understandably become paranoid and are worrying about the slightest sign of problems in their animals.

"There was a farmer who rang in with a heifer that was very pottery on its feet and salivating. When we got there, we found it was simply calving for the first time!"

Updated: 10:29 Thursday, March 22, 2001